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All 17.0 - The Trials of Ascension
After a ten day journey, the Gunakadeit entered brutal waters, near the spot where their destination had been indicated. Powerful currents and rocky shoals barred their path. With Caitlyn piloting and Bastion on the navigation systems, they made hard-won progress against the elements. Suddenly, three sea-drakes attacked from the swirling waters. Lucca took to the guns and attempted to repel them while they pressed forward through the maelstrom. The ship sustained damage from the monsters' claws and sonic blasts, but Caitlyn managed to outrun them to the eye of the storm, where they abandoned pursuit. At the center of the calm was a small islet, whose entire land was dominated by an unrealistically tall, smooth-barked tree that reached into the clouds. Landing the craft, everyone except Carrot and the two kids disembarked, after some encouragement to Cheko, Pierce and Cress, who all doubted their own worthiness. As they approached, they found that the tree was apparently not wood, but rather some sort of unnatural stone. An open archway in the tree's side lead inward. The interior was grandiose and spartan, empty save for a spiraling staircase that led upwards. The stairs were ornate, and possibly suspended only by magic. With little other options, the group climbed. They climbed and climbed, as it never seemed like they were making any progress, and it was quickly determined that no sorts of flight, either magic or natural, was permitted. The group stopped a few times to catch their breath, but never wavering in their conviction. Cheko was carried after a while by Ryuji, as the stairs were large for the former and the latter did not tire; Harlequin complained rather vocally, and was eventually passed to Victor who could better ignore his whining. Suddenly, after about 5 hours of climbing, the group suddenly found themselves on a new floor, that hadn't appeared until they crossed the threshold onto it. There was a circular room with three open archways leading out: one adorned with trees and vines, one with very angular and measured columns and stones, and one lined with a strange, unidentifiable material that looked like the night sky. Words on the floor, not in any language they knew but understandable nonetheless, told them to select the path of law they walked. Lucca made to run ahead as people dithered, but was stopped by Victor, who directed people to split into teams. Lucca and Cheko were bound for the "nature" door, while Victor selected the "civilization" room and Bastion "arcana". Caitlyn and Ryuji, though unwilling to separate, knew that Caitlyn had to choose "arcana", while Ryuji went to "civilization". Since Caitlyn had made her choice, Cohen went to "civilization" to avoid her. Cress debated for a while, obviously unsure of his own worth; he eventually decided to go to "arcana", since he had no connection to nature and worried that his career choice and contrast to the three who were already going would make him look unfavourable in the civilization room. Since Cress was going with the two women, Pierce opted to join them, saying that if Cress was going they might need more magical assistance. Though Caitlyn and Bastion both rolled their eyes at the two men joining them, they had no overt objections. The teams were formed and the groups set out. Lucca and Cheko found themselves on a stone altar of sorts, containing a raised pillar with four circular indentations, bordered by a mountain, a desert, a forest and a swamp. They had lost all of their magical abilities and equipment, leaving Lucca nothing but his clothes and Cheko naked. However, this also meant that Lucca appeared in his natural form, nearly scaring Cheko away before he could explain that it was still him. He managed to calm her enough to prevent her fleeing in terror. Looking around, they were given the instructions to "find and subdue the elements". Deciding they'd had to investigate the four areas. Using their tracking and survival skills, they began to find the most hospitable areas in each zone: a sheltered spot near water in the woods, a crevasse at the top of the mountain, a lake in the swamp and a shaded area of the desert. In each place, they found a large polished stone of a different colour: buried into a muddy cliffside in the woods, nestled in the mountain rocks, left at the bottom of the lake and among some other stones in the desert. Both people lent their respective skills: Lucca knew how to navigate the forest, climbed the mountain with Cheko on his back, and swam to the lake bottom. Cheko discovered the tell-tale marks of buried treasure and carried Lucca through the desert sand when he collapsed from exhaustion. When they had recovered all four stones and laid them on the pedestal, they began to hover and slowly circle one another. They picked up speed, and suddenly, as they were whirling about, they crashed into themselves with a flash of light and a cracking sound. The pair blinked, and suddenly found themselves faced with a large, enraged fire elemental. They also found that their equipment had been restored, and saw that their magic was as well. Cheko fired a blast of ice at the elemental, which absorbed part of the magic and suddenly morphed into an elemental of ice. Taking his chance, Lucca unleashed a fiery spell, once again changing the elemental back to flame. One more well-aimed ice strike from Cheko destroyed the creature. A beam of light appeared nearby; Lucca shifted to his preferred form, and the pair stepped into the pillar. Caitlyn, Bastion, Cress and Pierce found themselves on a magically suspended platform in the night sky. Stairs and bridges led from platform to platform, twisting about in a maze that defied physics and logic. Their instructions were to "avoid and contain the watcher"; Cress managed to spot something moving in the distance. A horrible creature, comprised of a giant, floating, monstrous head with a single huge eye and numerous eye stalks protruding from it, meandered lazily through the sky. Assuming that to be the watcher, the group decided to move away quietly. Bastion made to cast Invisibility Sphere, but found that when she did, a shower of rainbow fireworks erupted from where they stood, alerting the creature. Moving quickly, the group evaded it and began to make their way through the maze towards what appeared to be the largest platform. Reaching it, they saw four pillars forming a square in the center, with arcane runes written between them. Reading them carefully, the two women deduced that they would form a wall of force when activated; Pierce declared in addition, that they were linked to triggers that should be located on nearby platforms. When Bastion and Caitlyn mentioned a desire for teleportation magic, Pierce muttered that he could cast Dimension Door. Using his spell, they teleported to the closest large platform; upon arriving, Pierce found that he had apparently also summoned a rat, now sitting on his shoulder. The platform they stood on was flat and bare, save for an arrow painted on the ground. Looking in the direction of the arrow revealed nothing, though they eventually determined that no matter where one stood, the arrow always appeared to be oriented down. Taking a hint, Cress looked under the platform itself, spotting some sort of raised pedestal on the bottom. When Caitlyn asked if anyone knew Spider Climb, Pierce volunteered. Casting the spell gave him a sort of halo, suggesting to everyone that casting spells always had additional effects here. Walking over to the center, he told everyone that there was an incomplete spell that he would try to finish. When he did, they saw a wall of force appear on the central platform. Deciding to walk back, they all made themselves invisible, once again showering the area with fireworks, before running off in seperate directions, trying to find their ways back. When they all eventually reconvened, they repeated their earlier strategy: Pierce cast Dimension Door, coincidentally summoning a wolf in the process, then used Spider Climb and Caitlyn's ring of featherfall to access the spell at the bottom of a very deep, stepped pit. As they made to flee, the watcher approached. Using the wolf as a distraction, they escaped, though the canine was vaporized by a blast from the creature's eye. The third spell was on a small circular platform suspended in the air without any easy access; Pierce cast Unseen Servant to steady Caitlyn's grappling hook while Cress climbed it, with Caitlyn on his back. Finally, they made to trap the watcher: Pierce teleported to the fourth spell while the others lured the creature into position within the cage. They succeeded, and a beam of light appeared to teleport them away. Victor, Ryuji and Cohen found themselves in a large library of sorts, and were told to "guide the flow and ebb of progress". Victor was politely told to sit to one side while the two more scholarly men, despite their loathing for each other and refusal to work together, located the appropriate instructions to build something out of the pile of materials they had been given. He was still told to keep out of their way while they used the instructions to build a sort of golem. When the golem attacked however, Victor's help was greatly appreciated. When its parts lay ruined, oddly similar to how they had been found originally, a beam of light appeared to take them away. Everyone found themselves in the same place at the same time: at the tree's crown among the clouds, standing near a dias facing three short pedistals. The pillar of light still stood behind them, ready to take them back where they had come from. Deciding this was the place to pray, those more religiously inclined began to plea to the gods, hoping for a response. A response they recieved: three beings appeared, though they appeared slightly differently to each person. The [Asonians present witnessed the manifestations as Yoma, Sayel and Tessirade in earthly forms. Cheko saw Toprakana with two attendants, and Ryuji saw three ministers of Taiyo. They were all greeted, Cheko and Lucca with hugs from their respective god, the mother of nature, before being told that they would need to present their cases. Caitlyn stepped forward and explained the situation regarding the All, which seemed to confuse the manifests. One of them disappeared momentarily, and when it reappeared all three looked gravely concerned. They said that yes, these creatures were of a foreign plane, and were sucking the very essence out of Materia where they touched; Mirilarin wasn't the only place under attack by these creatures. Regardless, they must still follow the protocol, and required everyone to state their intent to the gods to finally seal their worthiness. Each person stepped up one by one to make their claim, some with many more words than others. Ryuji was noted that he was a servant of Virtue, not Law; Pierce was told he wasn't entirely present, and should summon his other half. Obviously wary but unwilling to argue, he cast a complicated spell that ended with a stoat-like woman appearing beside him. She turned and decisively punched Pierce repeatedly in several places, knocking him down before asking for an explanation from everyone else. Victor offered a brief breakdown of the events, causing Lucca and Cress to make none-to-subtle remarks regarding the time it would take for Victor to sleep with the eidolon. The woman, named Sienna, readily agreed to help with the cause. Finally, Cress was called, who was awkward, upset and unable to clearly make a case for himself. The goddess of nature wrapped him in an embrace and talked quietly to him before sending him with the others. After everyone was finished, they were all called one by one back to the dais to be judged. Everyone was judged as acceptable for the powers of the gods of law, though it was apparent to anyone thinking critically that they were bending their standards for most of the people present. When they came to Victor and were ready to bestow blessings upon him, they stopped. He could not be ascended, on the grounds that he was already an ascended whose powers had been muted by a spell placed upon him. One of the manifests vanished again, and when they reappeared, he deemed him still suitable to fulfill this purpose: they altered the magic on Victor, maintaining the majority of the spell while allowing his ascended nature to manifest. As they completed their change, Victor was overcome, unlike the others, and his hair immediately became pure white. They gods shrugged this off as a common occurrence, hair being melodramatic; he wouldn't be the only one whose appearance would change when their mythical power was unleashed. When everyone had been blessed, the gods explained that they had to defeat the All and save the plane. The All would sense their new power and hunt it, as the strength of an ascendant is tangible to everyone. They would need even greater power to succeed: the gods directed them towards phenomenon known as "echoes". When an ascendant completes their divine quest, a part of that event is written forever into the fabric of reality, trapped in the astral plane as an echo. Should another ascendant enter the echo and experience the event, they would be acquire part of the original ascendant's power. By finding echoes, which would be spoken of as legends and myths on Materia, they could increase their power and defeat the All. The gods empowered the magic mirror carried by Lucca to be able to activate the echoes, and with that, disappeared. With that, the group stepped into the beam, and were taken back to the Gunakadeit, where they quickly went to ensure the continued safety of the children. Category:Advent of the All